MAKING WAVES celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans who have made a difference through their career accomplishments, philanthropic projects, corporate achievements, and/or community outreach. This month-long celebration includes vignettes that will be broadcasted on-air, online, and on social! Today we honor award-winning actor Blair Underwood.
Blair Underwood will soon star in the upcoming reboot of the hit legal series, L.A. Law, for ABC, on which he will reprise his character, Jonathan Rollins. He is also currently filming a starring role in the new Showtime series, Three Women, alongside Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise and Betty Gilpin.
Underwood recently directed Viral, a feature in which he will also play the lead, opposite Sarah Silverman and Alfre Woodard. He can currently be seen playing Vernon Jordan, opposite Clive Owen, Edie Falco and Beanie Feldstein, in megaproducer Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment for FX, as well as the role of William Jackson Harper’s father in the second season of Love Life on HBO Max. Underwood co-starred in the Netflix limited series, Self-Made, opposite Octavia Spencer. His performance earned a nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series for the NAACP Image Awards, as well as a Black Reel Award. While audiences were streaming that performance, Underwood was onstage, starring on Broadway opposite David Allen Grier in the Roundabout Theatre revival of A Soldier’s Play at the American Airlines Theater. His performance garnered accolades and was recently nominated for a Tony Award, as well as a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award.
In 2019 he recurred on the Netflix comedy series, Dear White People, and in Clark Johnson's Juanita, opposite Alfred Woodard, also for Netflix. He spent two years as a series regular on the ABC drama series, Quantico, while also recurring on another hit ABC drama, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also had a co-starring role in The After Party, from writer/director Ian Edelman, which Netflix released late in 2018. He can be seen co-starring in Justin Simien’s horror comedy, Bad Hair, which premiered on Hulu in October 2020.
Past television credits include series regular roles on Dirty Sexy Money, The New Adventures of Old Christine, In Treatment, L.A. Law and The Event. Film credits include Rules of Engagement, Madea's Family Reunion and Full Frontal, for director Steven Soderbergh. Underwood co-starred opposite the late Cicely Tyson in the Lifetime telefilm, A Trip To Bountiful, based on the Tony Award-winning play. In 2012 he made his acclaimed Broadway debut in the iconic role of "Stanley" in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he earned a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nomination.
In celebration of Black History Month 94.7 The Wave and the Los Angeles Rams honor individuals who are Making Waves in Southern California.
